Child trafficking: Notes from the front lines

Bangladeshi children are trafficked to India and Pakistan to serve as sex slaves and domestic servants. Young boys are often used as camel jockeys in the Middle East. Most of these children willingly cross this border, searching for a better life. What they most often find is a hell far worse than the world they left.

Last year, the Bangladeshi Parliament passed a landmark anti-human trafficking law. Last month, through assistance provided by USAID, the government released a national action plan to implement the law across the country, including here at Benapole.

U.S. pressure and guidance helped make the law possible, but the real work has yet to begin. Laws are just words on paper. Putting those words into direct action is where it counts. I can already see some progress. Right at the border, posters warn travelers about human trafficking and explain what to do if they find themselves in forced servitude.

But posters are not enough.

“We know what human trafficking is,” says the police chief of Benapole. “What we need is a place to put the survivors. We need to be better in identifying traffickers, and we need all authorities to ask basic questions to determine if someone is a victim or not.”